Illinois is a bright spot for improved passenger rail service

Evan Stair, the passenger rail supporter from Oklahoma, sent along some very encouraging analysis on the Illinois experience. He certainly hits one aspect of this battle for improved transportation straight on the bulls-eye. So far, the real beneficiaries have been the consultants and the numerous state functionaries who pretend to advance the interest of better rail passenger sail service. These people are generally predators and have no conscience about wasting the public’s money and misleading the populace. Another thing Stair hits, which is of extreme importance, is the necessity of walking before running. Put simply, if there were to be high speed trains in the United States (real 200mph European style operations), it would develop incrementally from successful passenger trains running in the conventional 110 mph range. The cost difference between the two types of construction is astounding. The Midwest High Speed Rail Association has an excellent conception of how this would work, but in the USA, where only highway and airline interests have a seat at the table, they have had limited impact.Anyway, here is the story and commentary from Mr. Stair.

This story shows how to develop conventional 79-mph – 100-mph passegner rail, leading to Regional 125-mph and Express 150-mph High-Speed Rail Services (per Federal Railroad Administration definition). Illinios is doing it right and in a similar fashion to the work done in Missouri.

The Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas DOTs are just creating the illusion they are passenger rail supportive by conducting study after study. The Oklahoma investment to get 79-mph rail service jump started between Oklahoma City and Sapulpa is $90 million according to the Tulsa Rail Advisory Committee (TRAC), $100 million to reach all the way to Tulsa.

Illinois is learning to walk before it can run. Again, this is an example of how High Speed Rail is defined dramatically different in the United States.

High-speed rail construction is in its fourth season in Illinois with $1.45 billion in contracts awarded for projects ranging from track and signal upgrades to environmental studies.

Work this year concentrates on sidings and design of the automated control system for faster passenger and freight trains, according to a summer 2013 update from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The goal is regular 110-mph Amtrak service on most of the St. Louis-Chicago corridor in 2015.

“Expansion of 110-mph service to about two-thirds of the corridor is expected in the fourth quarter of 2015,” IDOT spokeswoman Jae Miller said in an email Monday. Amtrak started 110-mph speeds last fall on the northern end of the Lincoln Service route, between Dwight and Pontiac.

The federal government has awarded Illinois about $1.45 billion toward upgrades between Chicago and St. Louis. Still more money is being sought, including for consolidation of Third and 10th street trains on 10th Street in Springfield.

High-speed rail supporters also announced Monday separate funding would be sought to improve capacity at Union Station in Chicago. About half the cost of contracts awarded as of June 2013 have been for rail and structure upgrades, according to the IDOT update. Another $211 million is for new passenger cars and equipment, and $211.4 million for design, construction and other professional services.

Miller said about $350 million actually has been spent to date on the rail work in Illinois. She said construction in 2014 and 2015 would concentrate on 13 new sidings, purchase and installation of automated train-control systems, crossing upgrades and new equipment.

Lincoln Service passengers will switch to charter buses for eight days starting Aug. 16 to accommodate bridge and culvert work north of Bloomington, according to an announcement from Amtrak and IDOT. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said, despite construction disruptions, more than 551,000 passengers took Lincoln Service trains through the first nine months of the federal fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

The number is up 4 percent from the same nine-month period the previous fiscal year and on pace for a record. Amtrak has accommodated the steady increase by refurbishing and returning old passenger cars to service. The first new passenger cars are not scheduled for delivery until early 2016. “People have been more flexible in their schedules,” said Magliari. “We haven’t had any change to our capacity. It’s why we needed to get the additional cars.”

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association also has begun lobbying for federal funding to expand capacity at Union Station in Chicago. Executive director Rick Harnish said Monday the station has become a passenger bottleneck, especially as Amtrak use continues to grow. “We need to figure out how to get some federal money flowing, so we can get moving on a lot of these things,” said Harnish. “They should be doing it now.”